^^If all the Banks does is draw people to Downtown then it will be a dissappointment, it needs to be a regional/national draw that makes a profound statement.

I don't really look at the Banks as a destination, but more like something convenient to accommidate patrons of other nearby destinations. Think about all of the people coming to and from Paul Brown, Great American Ballpark, USBank arena, Freedom Center, Etc. These are tens of thousands of people walking at once.The Banks will help to retain these patrons and take dollars from them that would otherwise be given to places in Newport and the suburbs.

Banks group heads to Atlanta

BY KIMBALL PERRY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

September 11, 2006

 

 

CINCINNATI - A group of Hamilton County and Cincinnati elected officials are flying Tuesday to Atlanta in what could be a precursor to selecting a master developer for The Banks.

 

Full story text is available at

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060911/NEWS01/309110003

Atlanta team a Banks shoo-in?

 

Local officials impressed by developers' project

BY JON NEWBERRY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

ATLANTA - Nobody with a vote is saying it's official. But two Cincinnati city councilmen who aren't on the panel that will pick the developer for the $600 million Banks project said Tuesday that the winner will be Atlanta-based AIG/Carter.

 

Full story text is available at

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060913/BIZ01/609130333

 

__________________________________________________________________________

The most positive article I've seen from the Enquirer write in a while ...

 

 

Banks progress a welcome step

 

The imminent but long-long-long -awaited announcement of a choice for master developer of the Banks, the proposed $600 million residential-commercial-retail development along Cincinnati's central riverfront, will mark a huge, welcome step forward for the city and for our entire region.

 

Full story text is available at

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060913/EDIT01/609130315

^I guess I'm cautiously optimistic.  I'd be curious as to how they think they'll proceed.  In this layman's opinion, it strikes me that after building the parking garages, building up one or two blocks at a time and then seeing what the reaction for the public is might be the best way to go.  Also, are the parking garages below going to 1) be a source of revenue to develop the project, 2) the parking space that gets people to move to the Banks, 3) the space for people to come down and do their shopping at the retail attractions (e.g. Atlantic Station) or all three?  I'd be surprised if it could manage all three.  I'd opt for #1, let people who want it and can afford to to rent spots in the garage long-term and try to incorporate some sort of riverfront-downtown-OTR streetcar line in the mix, to at least make the gesture toward a car free urban lifestyle, but I don't see that happening.

^That's a point of contention, that a few hundred above-ground garage decks will be necessary in addion to the 4~ thousand underground spaces.  This was why having the Bengals agree to count future garage spaces on 3rd St. as part of the spaces guaranteed to them in their lease immediately adjacent to the stadium.  Here, once again, the outrageous lease works its dark magic...for example if the team had just kept practicing at Spinny Field, the space currently occupied by their three fields could hold by my calculations 1,000 cars.  Even if that giant warehouse had been allowed to remain, that would be 700 spaces.  At $30k~ per underground parking space, that's $21 million worth of parking garages that instead have to be built.  Add that to the cost of the practice fields, Bendinghaus.       

I am nervous.  I just want what the city offered us in the original renderings.  I will scream if we find out there proposal is a "Cincinnati on the Levee" Lifestyle Center.

 

Shall we revisit? 

 

Also, are the parking garages below going to 1) be a source of revenue to develop the project, 2) the parking space that gets people to move to the Banks, 3) the space for people to come down and do their shopping at the retail attractions (e.g. Atlantic Station) or all three?

 

If I remember correctly, the residents' parking spaces would be from entrances at grade (i.e. the elevation of the new 3rd St. and Freedom Way).  The underground parking is for workers, visitors, and gameday traffic.  As the article above stated, the bone of contention is where does the revenue from the underground garages get applied.

There are also a few mysteries surrounding the current layout of the devlopment.  Why was the lawn for the Freedom Center built, sacraficing space for what I estimate to be 250-300 underground spaces?  The fill dirt underneath Ted Berry Way and just to the north of it between Elm and Vine St. sacraficed space for another 250-300.  This fill was the former Ft. Washington Way levee, and obviously it was cheaper to bulldoze the fill 500ft. south than to cart it off and build Ted Berry Way on pilings.  However, the fill could have just as easily been pushed 100ft. further south forming part of the future park's slope to Mehring Way, simply swapping the parking space being used presently south of Berry Way for what could have been extensions of the current surface lots where the Banks development will be built.  To the east, it appears that parking between the Freedom Center and the baseball stadium will in fact continue beneath Freedom and Berry Ways, as it should have to the west.   

 

Even more disturbing is the potential wasted by the Transit Center, which is occupying space that by my estimation could park 2100 cars on two levels.  The Transit Center should have been built under 3rd St., which would not have cost much more than 2nd St. (esp since 3rd St. and its sewers were ripped up during FWW reconstruction anyway) and would have been closer to the business district, and had the enormous advantage of a direct connection with any future downtown subway line.       

 

 

 

 

^You make good points, but unfortunately politicians make decisions based upon what return they will see in the immediate future....not the long-term future.  This often creates these misguided decisions/policymaking on the part of politicians....they do what not is neccissarily best for the community, but what is best for their re-election campaign. :|

Even more disturbing is the potential wasted by the Transit Center, which is occupying space that by my estimation could park 2100 cars on two levels.  The Transit Center should have been built under 3rd St., which would not have cost much more than 2nd St. (esp since 3rd St. and its sewers were ripped up during FWW reconstruction anyway) and would have been closer to the business district, and had the enormous advantage of a direct connection with any future downtown subway line.

 

Yeah, I always wondered why the put that transit Center under 2nd Street when 3rd Street was an obviously better location for the very reasons you mentioned (also a transit center on the 3rd Street side could connect to Dixie Terminal one of the gems of Cincinnati architecture).  Frankly, since they aren't going to get any downtown underground rail transit anytime soon they should d/x the transit center and increase parking.  This is a perfect example of why it's far more important that these project are built correctly, taking in mind all possibilities, than that they are simply built because we can build them.  Like Michigan Stadium was.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Stadium#History

 

I don't know why this last part is in boldface.

Not sure if anyone has posted these pics yet. I found these on 3cdc's website, the link is labeled "Intermodal Connectivity -

Connecting Cincinnati".

 

 

"The Facility will connect:

 

-The Banks Development

-The Central Business District

-The Riverfront Transit Center and multi-modal transportation."

 

 

^But it obviously doesn't connect any of that, in part because none of it exists except the transit center itself.  Has anyone here actually used the transit center for it's intended purpose?  There are no attempts at "intermodal" transit on the drawing board, and certainly nothing like the light rail line shown in the pretty drawing which dates from when The Banks project was conceived in the mid to late 90's and you could see also those lovely pictures on www.riverfrontplanning.org.  I'm going to stop complaining about this.

I've never seen those pics before, until about 3 weeks ago and I thought I combed that site. Has anyone else seen these?

That drawing predates the final design of the transit center.  A big mistake was made by not creating bus-only exits from I-75 from and to the transit center -- all the express routes that use I-75, which is about 10, could have exited the expressway almost straight into the transit center and then headed up Broadway to the center of downtown on the other side.  All that 71X buses have to do now is turn left off of the Lytle Tunnel exit.  Over and over again, we hear that buses can change their routes unlike rail routes, yet Cincinnati's bus routes are oddly locked into now-buried streetcar tracks.  Meanwhile the east side light rail line to Milford *might* use the transit center, the alternative being a terminus down by One Lytle Place.  It's only 1,000ft. further into the transite center -- when I hear about these kinds of things it makes me wonder if it's all a big scam to make a starter rail line fail so that rail is shelved for the next 20 years.   

 

This brings up the larger issue, which is the reluctance to create major class A office space at The Banks, which is a major mistake.  Unlike housing, office only requires daytime parking, whereas there must be at least one spot dedicated for each housing unit.  With parking spots costing $30-50K apiece, it adds up fast.  Competition with downtown office space is a moot point since what remains in downtown's prewar buildings will actually relieve the parking crunch if converted to condos (obviously fewer people can live on a floor than worked there).  So by throwing the numbers in some yet to be devised equation, it might actually be cheaper to move office space to the riverfront and condos to the CBD.     

 

 

  Has anyone here actually used the transit center for it's intended purpose? 

 

i took a shuttle to tall stacks and it loaded and let off in the Transit Center

 

 

I've never seen those pics before, until about 3 weeks ago and I thought I combed that site. Has anyone else seen these?

 

I had seen those pics a while ago but i'm not exactly sure where.

I've never seen those pics before, until about 3 weeks ago and I thought I combed that site. Has anyone else seen these?

 

I've also seen these pics before...some time ago.  I must have thought that they were already posted, but either way.

A glimpse of Banks' future

Just as in Cincinnati, hurdles were plentiful

BY JON NEWBERRY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

September 14, 2006

 

PHOTO: Art Foundry Commons Park sits in the center of the Atlantic Station development in Atlanta. The mixed-used site includes townhomes and condominiums, office space, hotels and a wide variety of retailers - all potential elements of The Banks development. PROVIDED PHOTO

 

PHOTO: Strip, a steakhouse with a two-level bar, is one of the restaurants at Atlantic Station in Atlanta. There are 16 restaurants open at the mixed-use development, with five more scheduled to open soon. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS / GREGORY SMITH

 

ATLANTA - Atlantic Station is a mini-city where people can live, work and play - all within its friendly confines.

 

When it's fully developed, the 138-acre mixed-use development will include up to 5,000 housing units, including high-rise condominiums, apartments, loft condos, a even few single-family houses. It will also encompass up to 6 million square feet of high-rise office towers, hotels, a park, and scores of shops, restaurants, clubs and big-box retailers.

 

Much of Atlantic Station is being built atop "below-ground" parking garages very similar to those that will raise Cincinnati's smaller-scale Banks project out of the Ohio River flood plain on the city's central riverfront.

 

Full story text is available at

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060914/BIZ01/609140319

After looking at these photos I am sure I will be disappointed.  Atlantic Station is nothing more than a Faux suburban downtown with close proximity to an urban area.  I want "The Banks" we were promised.

Wold Trade Center fill circa 1975:

 

This is a view from the World Trade Center probably in mid-2001:

 

And a recent view, everything to the left was built on fill since 1975:

 

Battery Park City is at least as relevant to The Banks as is Atlantic Station, because it similarly came out of nowhere but has done a much better job creating a real feel than I suspect Atlantic Station ever will.  This is partly because BPC has grown gradually in the past 20 years and partly because the buildings are mostly fairly high quality.  It is cut off from the rest of Manhattan by the West Side Highway, so it is not a destination and so is fairly quiet and has businesses and restaurants with area residents as the main customers.  It also has the advantage of not needing at least one parking space for each unit.     

 

These photos illustrate how gradual development of an area creates a richer environment, in fact the master plan of BPC was redrawn several times after development began.  Again, if individual developers were developing individual blocks, they could respond to the immediate demands of the market.  There hasn't /ever/ been development of an entire city block in Cincinnati's history (except the Fountain Square block, although in that case half the block was left as a plaza), let alone 4-6 of them.  Even the Carew Tower complex did not cover an entire block.   

 

 

After looking at these photos I am sure I will be disappointed.  Atlantic Station is nothing more than a Faux suburban downtown with close proximity to an urban area.  I want "The Banks" we were promised.

 

amen to that

 

and jmeck thats exactly what i have been thinking (maybe even i said it once or twice).  if the banks were subdivided among several developers it would be a much better product in the end.

When it's fully developed, the 138-acre mixed-use development will include up to 5,000 housing units, including high-rise condominiums, apartments, loft condos, a even few single-family houses. It will also encompass up to 6 million square feet of high-rise office towers, hotels, a park, and scores of shops, restaurants, clubs and big-box retailers.

 

Much of Atlantic Station is being built atop "below-ground" parking garages very similar to those that will raise Cincinnati's smaller-scale Banks project out of the Ohio River flood plain on the city's central riverfront.

 

The parking-garage platforms are an obvious physical similarity between The Banks and Atlantic Station, which Cincinnati-area officials have toured twice.

 

Does anyone know how big the Banks site is?  I suspect it is smaller than 138 acres.

 

Monte's skepticism is certainly justified.  And the question of the parking garage revenue remains unresolved.  The real shame of it all is that there is absolutely no coordination with other relevent things in the city, like the explosion of the downtown housing market, the constant hunger for new corporate workers downtown, the insatiable need for new sources of revenue for the city, and the incorporation of streetcar lines or other types of public rail transit.  Despite the fact that they talk about how this development will be a catalyst for other development no one ever bothers to lay the necessary groundwork for that to happen.  It's really frustrating.

 

Also, anyone else catch the fact that that Enquirer assclown Newberry described the (two block) stretch of 4th Street from Walnut to Race as, "littered with vacant storefronts"?  As far as I'm aware, the only vacant storefront is where the old Frisch's used to be on the corner.  Any other possible contenders are "vacant" simply because they are converting the old office/McAlpin's space into condominiums and there is construction going on.

I would like to post here but I haven't recently my logon from the dumb Enquirer.  Isn't this automated?

 

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/messageboards/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8739

Does anyone know how big the Banks site is?  I suspect it is smaller than 138 acres.

 

I believe it is around 20-22 acres.  Oh and it is an urban environment....not Atlanta's fringe development.  Really....who has 138 available damn acres in their city, especially a 'booming' city like Atlanta?

 

Also, anyone else catch the fact that that Enquirer assclown Newberry described the (two block) stretch of 4th Street from Walnut to Race as, "littered with vacant storefronts"?  As far as I'm aware, the only vacant storefront is where the old Frisch's used to be on the corner.  Any other possible contenders are "vacant" simply because they are converting the old office/McAlpin's space into condominiums and there is construction going on.

 

That just about sums up the Enquirer's coverage of city issues/projects: uninformed/totally off target.  An assclown is a pretty good description of mostly anyone on the Enquirer's staff.

I don't know if this link has been posted, but this is the first I saw of this pdf:

 

www.hamilton-co.org/hc/banksrfq/docs/banks_rfq.pdf

 

 

Well it turns out the underground parking on the west side will inexplicably not extend south to Berry Way, mirroring the current situation on the east side of the Freedom Center.  Above ground garages are planned for blocks 1, 2, and 4, specifically for use by residents of apartments.  Block one will have a 250 space garage, 2 a 540 space garage, and 4 an identical 540 space garage in addition to the thousands below grade.  Residential on the southern blocks will use the underground garage, but again, we are given no explanation as to why that garage cannot be extended.  This is all on page 36 of the pdf.  There is no plan and hardly a mention of Block 7, also known as the Freedom Center's useless lawn. 

 

I don't know if this link has been posted, but this is the first I saw of this pdf:

 

www.hamilton-co.org/hc/banksrfq/docs/banks_rfq.pdf

 

 

Well it turns out the underground parking on the west side will inexplicably not extend south to Berry Way, mirroring the current situation on the east side of the Freedom Center.  Above ground garages are planned for blocks 1, 2, and 4, specifically for use by residents of apartments.  Block one will have a 250 space garage, 2 a 540 space garage, and 4 an identical 540 space garage in addition to the thousands below grade.  Residential on the southern blocks will use the underground garage, but again, we are given no explanation as to why that garage cannot be extended.  This is all on page 36 of the pdf.  There is no plan and hardly a mention of Block 7, also known as the Freedom Center's useless lawn. 

 

 

This might be a dumb question, but in the case of underground parking buy the river, how do they stop flooding?

This might be a dumb question, but in the case of underground parking buy the river, how do they stop flooding?

 

I wouldn't call it a stupid question, especially considering I asked the exact same thing about 18 months ago!  Took a good bit of digging, but here's the question:

 

How does one go about building an underground garage on the riverfront?  I mean, as we've seen, it does flood down there...do you build it to take flood water and then pump it out and clean up, or do you try to defend it against an 80 footer?

 

...and here's Jake's answer at the time:

 

It's unlikely with our region's flood controls that the river will again top 70 feet.  The "underground" garages will actually be built at ground level and raise street level by about 20 feet.  In the case of another 1997 flood, which I believe was 65 feet, the lower level would be flooded but the upper level wouldn't.  The water will recede with the flood, so there wouldn't be that much pumping to do. 

 

...and here's Jake's answer at the time:

 

It's unlikely with our region's flood controls that the river will again top 70 feet.  The "underground" garages will actually be built at ground level and raise street level by about 20 feet.  In the case of another 1997 flood, which I believe was 65 feet, the lower level would be flooded but the upper level wouldn't.  The water will recede with the flood, so there wouldn't be that much pumping to do. 

 

I guess that is something to think about if I buy a condo unit and I park my car in the garage.  I imagine I would have to plan for this sort of situation and have alternate parking available.

It depends on how high the water has to get to flood the garage, of course.  But here's a site with peak data going back to 1858:

 

http://www.kenton.lib.ky.us/gen/ohioriver.html

 

And bear in mind that the Army Corps of Engineers can take around 9' off the peak height of most floods by holding tributary water in upstream dams...

 

If the garages are built to flood right at flood stage of 52', then I'd guess you'd see a wet garage every few years.  If they're built to stay dry up to 60', then you're probably looking at once every twenty or thirty years.  And, as Jake says, we may never see 70' again (in sha Allah).

 

A bigger concern during high water events might be road closures.  I know Kellogg and Eastern and such will get shut down during high water, but I have no idea what happens on Mehring and such...probably would be a good question to ask.

 

This image sticks out in my head when thinking of the Banks parking:

 

No doubt - but the river hadn't been that high since 1964...

Na, I think that's a more recent photo.

^It hadn't been that high, as in, it hadn't been that high since 1964 in 1997, when the pic was taken.

Yes, Ink, that's right - sorry, Cincy-Rise, I was remarkably unclear there.  In 1964, it hit 66.2 feet; then in 1997, when that picture was taken, it hit 64.7 feet.  In between (and since 1997), it never topped 60 feet.

 

Of course, one can never predict anything for certain.  One front gets stalled over the Ohio Valley, and it's game over.  Within 10 years of them constructing the Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny, the remnants of a hurricane blew in and settled, dropping what seemed like half the Gulf of Mexico over north-west Pennsylvania.  The dam came within three feet of overflowing, but it held, and it's estimated to have save more than twice the cost of its construction in property damage.

 

But a little longer stall?  Who knows...and who's to say the year Monte buys his condo, we won't get have 3' of snow all melted by a moist band of February showers that sits over the Ohio Valley for three or four days?  There's no reason that couldn't reach 1937 levels, even with our flood control...you never can tell, all you can do is guess and hope and pray...

 

http://www.enquirer.com/flood_of_97/borgman_rain_600.gif

Banks developer coming soon

AIG/Carter expected to be selected today

BY KIMBALL PERRY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

September 15, 2006

 

CINCINNATI - When Hamilton County officials ranked potential developers for The Banks in May, a Cincinnati-based company was the leader, just three points ahead of the company expected to be selected today.

 

The reason Atlanta's AIG/Carter wasn't the top-ranked development team in May is because it hadn't selected an urban designer and architect at that time.

 

Full story text is available at

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060915/BIZ01/609150351/1076/BIZ

here we go cincy....get things moving

Next Banks hurdle: A contract

 

By Joe Wessels

Post contributor

 

Today's choice of a developer for the Banks - the $600 million remaking of the downtown riverfront - marks a milestone in the project considered critical for Cincinnati's rebirth.

 

The next challenge: negotiating a contract.

 

Full story text is available at

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060915/NEWS01/609150354

Looking at the portfolio of the architect/urban designer from the article Uncle Rando posted, I'm starting to get kind of worried if this is the right choice.

 

http://www.coopercarry.com/index.aspx

 

Nothing in there impresses me at all.  I really hope I'm wrong, but I'm starting to echo Monte's statements.

Looking at the portfolio of the architect/urban designer from the article Uncle Rando posted, I'm starting to get kind of worried if this is the right choice.

 

 

^

I was looking at Cooper Carry's site, too.  Hopefully they closely follow the renderings that the Port Authority developed several years ago.

 

Their urban spaces look pretty good:

 

http://www.coopercarry.com/_images/portfolio/22/Underground01.jpg

Underground Atlanta

 

http://www.coopercarry.com/_images/portfolio/90/mercato01.jpg

Naples, Florida: Mercato

 

 

http://www.coopercarry.com/_images/portfolio/23/Mizner01.jpg

Boca Raton, Florida: Mizner Park

^Agreed, the Pittsburgh Lazarus was the only one that stood out to me as being a pretty nice building, most of them that weren't malls had mall-type features to them.  But the good news is that unlike Corporex this developer clearly has experience with major redevelopment projects like this.

 

The problem with Atlantic Station is that its location sucks compared to the Banks and secondly they tried to make many of the buildings look like renovated warehouses even though they're new. This trend started appearing in the late 90's in the south, I remember there being a free-standing restaurant that opened in 1999 outside Knoxville called something like "Chicago Pizza" which attempted to look like an old "Chicago" industrial buidling, complete with fake loading docks on the side.  Its similar to how Joe's Crab Shack tries to look like a bayside oyster place.   Well, in building Paul Brown Stadium they tore down Olde Spaghetti Factory, the pioneer in redeveloping industrial buildings into themed restaurants, as well as a 500ft. long warehouse between Central Ave. and the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge.  How ridiculous would it be for those to have been demolished, only to be replaced 8 years later by immitations of what actually used to stand near that location?

 

Hopefully they won't pull that kind of silliness in Cincinnati, we already have a baseball stadium that makes a pathetic attempt at looking like a 100 year-old multi-level warehouse.  Take a short walk over to Longworth Hall and see what a real 100 year-old redeveloped warehouse looks like.  If they feel the need to emulate older styles in order to evoke nostalgia, please immitate what's already in Cincinnati, a short walk away from this site.     

 

 

 

I have decided to be optimistically optimisitic.

^

LOL, I think that AIG/Carter will almost certainly do this better than Corporex would have.

This is Cincinnati, not Atlanta. I have confidence that AIG will notice the difference in the two cities (like the architecture) and build on that. I'm not worried.

 

 

Very good news if you ask me, and I'm also glad that Corporex wasn't in charge of this.

Well, in building Paul Brown Stadium they tore down Olde Spaghetti Factory, the pioneer in redeveloping industrial buildings into themed restaurants, as well as a 500ft. long warehouse between Central Ave. and the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. 

 

Do you have any photos of these buildings?

Please don't post the Spaghetti Factory if you have one, it will break my heart.

I understand the nostalgic memories but I have never seen it.

FYI, Cooper Carry was the firm that designed the Fountain Square West/Macy's project.  I used to have a rendering of Macy's with the office tower, I will try to locate it again.

How ridiculous would it be for those to have been demolished, only to be replaced 8 years later by immitations of what actually used to stand near that location?  Hopefully they won't pull that kind of silliness in Cincinnati, we already have a baseball stadium that makes a pathetic attempt at looking like a 100 year-old multi-level warehouse.  Take a short walk over to Longworth Hall and see what a real 100 year-old redeveloped warehouse looks like.  If they feel the need to emulate older styles in order to evoke nostalgia, please immitate what's already in Cincinnati, a short walk away from this site.

 

I always thought that there were plenty of great old, demolished buildings in Cincinnati that should simply be rebuilt when the need for them arises again (e.g. the old Cincinnati Workhouse for the new jail).  One would think the old specs would be available at the county recorder's or engineer's offices, or at the library, or UC.  I suppose they couldn't build it (nor would they want to) the way it was built originally but if you're going to fake something, at least fake something iconic.

 

Please don't post the Spaghetti Factory if you have one, it will break my heart.

 

That's cute.  I remember going there as a kid, and thinking how classy it was.  My first introduction to both waiting for a table and having cocktails before dinner, though mine was simply 7up and grenadine.

Here's some old-time Cincinnati riverfront shots:

 

 

You can see that warehouse in the lower left:

 

Many of the buildings weren't distinguished architecturally, but as a group they created a true urban aesthetic:

 

 

 

Photos via cincinnativiews.net.

 

Here is the warehouse, this photo is probably from around 1995:

 

This warehouse was definitely not as old as the B&O Warehouse (Longworth Hall) but it probably could have been redeveloped and would have been much more useful than three football practice fields.  The only advantage of the Bengals having their practice facility next to the stadium is that they don't have to double up showers, locker rooms, and medical equipment, however I have a hard time believing that savings made up for so much property acquisition and tearing down this warehouse and a handful of perfectly functional buildings.  What it comes down to is *control*, and the Bengals and the NFL wanting complete control of their environs so that the marketing of garbage can go on uninhibited in all directions.  Why do sports teams force municipalities to buy them new video screens?  For the enjoyment of fans?  No, so that they can run commercials on them during games and collect ad revenue on a screen paid for with tax money.  It's all a screaming joke.     

 

And as can be seen by this photo, the row of buildings east of Central Ave. did not have to be demolished, Pete Rose Way is in the same place is was then and there clearly was no need to demolish them other than for parking and to have complete control of redevelopment.  Surely those buildings could have been left standing and incorporated into new development, even though they obviously would be below the rest of the development. 

 

There needs to be a major effort after Mike Brown dies by the county to reclaim the Bengals Practice fields, that is a huge amount of property to be wasting on a task that could be done anywhere else in the county. 

 

 

Site of Riverfront Stadium in 1959: